TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates, in general, to the inhibition of thymidine kinase, and, in particular, to a method of inhibiting herpes simplex virus-specified thymidine kinase.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Herpes simplex viruses type-1 (HSV-1) and type-2 (HSV-2) and varicella-zoster virus induce unique virus-specified thymidine kinases (dThd kinase) in cells that they infect. In the past, major efforts have been made to develop antiviral compounds that would serve as "selective alternative substrates" for virus-specified dThd kinase. While the activity of viral dThd kinase does not appear to be critical for virus replication in cell culture systems, several studies indicate that the enzyme may be important for virus pathogenicity and for activation of latent virus in neural cells (Darby, G., Field, H. J., and Salisbury, S. A. (1981) Nature (London) 289:81-83; Field, H. J. and Darby, G. (1980) Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 17:209-216; Tenser, R.B., Miller, R.L. and Rapp, F. (1979) Science 205:915-917). These findings indicate that a selective inhibitor of virus-specified dThd kinase would be useful in the prevention of reactivation of latent virus.